American suspect in Haiti president’s assassination was ‘confidential’ DEA source
One of the Americans arrested for the assassination of Haiti’s president had been an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration — the US agency the hit squad had claimed to be working for.
A DEA official confirmed to Reuters that the informant even
reached out to his handlers after the hit, as CNN also claimed that “several”
of those arrested had also been US informants, including for the FBI.
“One of the suspects in the assassination of Haitian
President Jovenel Moïse was a confidential source to the DEA,” the DEA official
confirmed to Reuters.
“Following the assassination of President Moïse, the suspect
reached out to his contacts at the DEA,” the official wrote in an email also
obtained by the Miami Herald.
“A DEA official assigned to Haiti urged the suspect to
surrender to local authorities and, along with a US State Department colleague,
shared information with the Haitian government that assisted in the surrender
and arrest of the suspect and one other individual,” the official said.
“DEA is aware of reports that President Moïse’s assassins
yelled ‘DEA’ at the time of their attack,” the official told the Herald.
“These individuals were not acting on behalf of DEA,” the
source insisted.
While the official did not identify which of the arrested
Americans was the informant, the Herald and McClatchy both identified him as
55-year-old West Palm Beach-based suspect Joseph Gertand Vincent.
The Haitian American was first arrested more than 20 years
ago for filing false information on a US passport application and went on to
become a paid DEA informant, the Miami paper said.
Vincent went by the pseudonym Oliver and helped bring down
drug traffickers — including the 2017 arrest of former Haiti rebel leader Guy
Philippe, sources told the outlet.
Vincent had been with Haitian National Police officers when
they turned over Philippe to DEA agents for the flight to Miami, sources told
the paper. He eventually pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking conspiracy charges
and was sentenced to nine years in prison, the Herald noted.
Vincent was arrested last week alongside fellow
Florida-based Haitian American James Solages, 35, who has described himself as
a “certified diplomatic agent” and the former “chief commander of bodyguards”
for the Canadian Embassy in Haiti. Florida records show Solages has held
security officer and firearm licenses.
Both men reportedly told investigators they were translators
for a Colombian commando unit that had an arrest warrant for Moïse, but that
when they arrived, they found Moïse dead.
A third Haitian American, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, was
arrested Sunday, accused of being a mastermind of the attack as part of his bid
to become the impoverished nation’s new leader.
The FBI told CNN that it doesn’t comment on informants,
except to say that it uses “lawful sources to collect intelligence” as part of
its investigations.
The Justice Department said Monday it had been asked by
Haiti to assist in the probe of Moïse’s murder, and was doing so.
“An initial assessment has been conducted in Haiti by senior
US officials,” said spokesman Anthony Coley. “The department will also
investigate whether there were any violations of US criminal law in connection
with this matter.”
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